La Industria 4.0 en Colombia y Latinoamérica, realidades y retos

On the Character and Causes of Inequality in Latin America

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of corruption on economic growth, human development and natural resources in Latin American and Nordic countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing the hierarchical prior of Gelman et al. (2003), a Bayesian panel Vector AutoRegression (VAR) model is estimated. In addition, two alternative approaches are considered, namely, a panel error correction VAR model and an asymmetric panel VAR model.FindingsThe results reveal some relevant contrasts: (1) in Latin America there is support for the sand the wheels hypothesis in Bolivia and Chile, support for the grease the wheels hypothesis in Colombia and no significant impact of corruption on growth in Brazil and Peru, while in Nordic countries the response of growth to shocks in corruption is negative in all cases; (2) corruption negatively affects human development in all countries from both regions; (3) corruption tends to spur natural resources sector in Latin American countries, while it is detrimental for natural resources sector in Nordic countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe panel VAR approach uses recursive scheme identification. The authors have analyzed robustness using alternative ordering of the variables. The authors also have followed two alternatives suggested by the Referee: a panel error correction VAR model and a panel asymmetric VAR model. However, another more sophisticated identification scheme could be used. Also other variables could be introduced in the VAR model.Practical implicationsRegardless of the issue of the “grease” vs the “sand the wheels” debate, corruption should be reduced because it is anyway harmful for human development. The differences in the results for Latin American and Nordic countries show that the effects of corruption have to be assessed considering the different institutional and economic conditions of the countries analyzed.Social implicationsGovernments should seek to reduce corruption because, despite corruption can have mixed effects on economic growth in some contexts, it is anyway harmful for human development. Besides, the finding that in some Latin American countries more activity in the extractive industries is generated by means of corruption confirm the association between corruption and extractivism found by Gudynas (2017) and can explain why there are issues of environmental damage and social conflict linked to natural resources in those countries.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to the literature by presenting evidence on the effects of corruption on growth, human development and natural resources sector in Latin American and Nordic countries. It is the first study on economics of corruption which directly compares Latin American and Nordic countries. This is relevant because there are important differences between both regions since Latin American countries tend to suffer from widespread corruption, while the Nordic ones have a high level of transparency. It is also the first in using a Bayesian panel VAR approach in order to evaluate the effects of corruption.

Latin Women Take the Helm

Liberalism and Married Women’s Property Rights in Nineteenth-Century Latin America

A neurology revival in Latin America

Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America

Technological advancements, computerization, and globalization have made businessescompetitiveacrossallindustries. Micro, small, and medium-sizedenterprises (MSMEs) continue to encounter difficulties with resource scarcity and technology adoption, although accounting for over 80% of employment and contributing to 61.97% of the GDP (gross domestic product). The Sunan Drajat Lamongan Religious Tourism Area is a home to hundreds of MSMEs, ranging in size from apparel and souvenir shops to restaurants. The number of visitors rises dramatically throughout the holiday season before becoming quiet, as is common with tourism in general. Entrepreneurship is a key factor in economic growth and serves as the primary driving force for innovative and long-term growth. By leveraging social media to enhance a company’s competitive advantage throughout the entrepreneurship and operation phases, entrepreneurs who possess an entrepreneurial mindset can aid their organizations in efficiently adapting their organizational framework and processes, thereby mitigating environmental conflicts and tensions within the intricate framework of a dynamic business environment. By using social media, MSMEs may reach their target audience with content and information without having to personally meet them. Social media also offers information in the form of customer reviews of goods, services, and even new ideas for sustainable MSMEs. This study aimed to determine how MSMEs’ use of social media and their ability for innovation can impact their success in Sunan Drajat Lamongan’s religious tourism industry. The data were obtained from 132 small and medium-sized enterprises using questionnaires. Path Least Square (PLS) and descriptive analysis were the methods utilized to analyze the data. Keywords: entrepreneurial spirituality, social media adoption, innovation capability, sustainability of MSMEs performance

The article aims to examine the role of state investment policy in shaping human capital based on an analysis of its main directions, tools, and impact on social development. The article highlights the role of human capital as a key factor in economic growth, social progress, and national competitiveness. It emphasizes that a high level of human capital forms the foundation for sustainable societal development, ensuring adaptability to global challenges and changes. Particular attention is paid to the interconnection between state investment policy and the formation of human capital, which is a crucial aspect of ensuring economic progress. Public authorities must provide institutional support aimed at improving the levels of education, healthcare, and professional training of the population. The concept of state investment policy is explored as a component of the country’s economic policy, aimed at regulating investment processes across various economic sectors. The main investment directions are identified, targeting rapid economic development and improved quality of life, particularly in the field of human capital. The necessity of creating a favorable economic and legal environment for entrepreneurship and improving the investment climate is emphasized to attract investments in key social and economic sectors. The role of investments in enhancing labor productivity, promoting social mobility, reducing inequality, and fostering innovative development is outlined. The primary sources of investment in human capital are examined, including public spending, enterprise resources, household financing, and international support. The importance of efficient budget utilization and infrastructure development to support investments in human capital is underscored, including the adoption of new financing tools such as crowdfunding. Special attention is given to the issues of state investment policy under martial law, where the main tasks are attracting external financial assistance and optimizing the use of available resources to support human potential development. Directions for adapting investment tools to new challenges faced by the country are proposed.

This study determines the factors responsible for the growth of transport sector CO2 emissions in 20 Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries during the 1980–2005 period by decomposing the emissions growth into components associated with changes in fuel mix (FM), modal shift and economic growth, as well as changes in emission coefficients (EC) and transportation energy intensity (EI). The key finding of the study is that economic growth and the changes in transportation EI are the principal factors driving transport sector CO2 emission growth in the countries considered. While economic growth is responsible for the increasing trend of transport sector CO2 emissions in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay, the transportation EI effect is driving CO2 emissions in Bolivia, the Caribbean, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Other Latin America, Panama and Paraguay. Both economic activity (EA) and EI effects are found responsible for transport sector CO2 emissions growth in the rest of the Latin American countries. In order to limit CO2 emissions from the transportation sector in LAC countries, decoupling of the growth of CO2 emissions from economic growth is necessary; this can be done through policy instruments to promote fuel switching, modal shifting and reductions in transport sector EI. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Renal replacement therapy in Latin America

Sleep medicine is a relatively young field with exponential growth in development and research in the last decades. Parallel to the advances in the United States, Latin America also had its beginnings in sleep medicine housed in neuroscience laboratories. Since the very first Latin American meeting in 1985, and the first sleep society in 1993, sleep research has undergone significant development in subsequent years. From contributions in animal research that allowed understanding of the activity of the brain during sleep to the studies that improved our knowledge of sleep disorders in humans, Latin America has become a scientific hub for expansion of sleep research. In this article, we present a historical account of the development of sleep medicine in Latin America, the current state of education and the achievements in research throughout history, and the latest advances in the trending areas of sleep science and medicine. These findings were presented during World Sleep Society meeting in Vancouver in 2019 and complement the work on sleep societies and training published by Vizcarra-Escobar et al in their article "Sleep societies and sleep training programs in Latin America" (J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(6):983-988).

Growth Challenges in Latin America: What is Unique About the Region?

Human resources for health in the Americas

Traffic accidents scar Latin America's roads

Intragenerational Income Mobility in Latin America Gary S. Fields (bio), Robert Duval Hernández (bio), Samuel Freije (bio), and María Laura Sánchez Puerta (bio) Latin American countries have experienced substantial macroeconomic instability over the last few decades. While the region as a whole experienced economic growth during most of the 1990s and 2000s, there were also years of stagnation and economic decline. Furthermore, most of the countries in the region experienced quite varied episodes of growth, crisis, and recession. Economists have traditionally assessed the welfare impact of these fluctuations on the population by studying the evolution of economic inequality and poverty. Questions regarding who benefits from economic growth and who is hurt by economic decline have been answered by examining the changes in cross-sectional inequality or poverty associated with these episodes. While it is important to know the evolution of inequality or poverty per se, this type of analysis fails to measure one important aspect of welfare, namely, the evolution of the well-being of given economic units through time. The goal of mobility analysis is precisely to study this dynamic evolution of well-being for units identified through time. The following example demonstrates the difference between cross-sectional analyses of inequality (or poverty) and mobility analysis. Take an imaginary economy with two individuals whose initial incomes are $1 and $3. Suppose the economy grows and the new incomes are $1 and $5. Inequality has clearly increased in the course of economic growth, but what has happened to the destinies of specific individuals? Anonymous data provide no indication. Panel data, however, reveal two underlying possibilities. The result of adopting the notational convention that individuals (denoted by Greek letters) are ordered [End Page 101] from lowest initial income to highest initial income in the initial income vector was either Case I: or Case II: In the first case, the income of the poorest individual remained unchanged, while the income of the initially richer individual grew. In the second case, the initially poor individual experienced a substantial income gain, while the other individual recorded an income loss. As this brief example illustrates, simply comparing anonymous distributions of income across time cannot answer questions like whether the (initially) poor are getting poorer and the (initially) rich richer or whether economic growth is benefiting individuals who were initially poor. Mobility analysis addresses such issues by tracking the evolution of individual incomes over time and identifying the winners and losers of the growth process. In other words, the crucial difference between mobility studies and dynamic comparisons of cross-sectional measures of inequality and poverty is that mobility studies can unveil the intertemporal anonymity that accompanies cross-sectional studies. Economic mobility has not been widely studied in developing countries until very recently owing to the lack of suitable data. Studying mobility requires longitudinal data tracking economic units (that is, individuals, households, or firms) over time. Collecting this type of data is expensive, and historically few Latin American countries carried it out. Now, however, such data sets are available for a number of Latin American and Caribbean countries; table A-1 in the appendix provides a list of available panel data sets that can be used for income mobility studies for these countries. In this paper, we discuss how the knowledge gleaned from mobility studies differs from comparable cross-sectional analysis. The structure of the paper is as follows. The next section discusses what mobility is, how it can be measured, and how it differs from inequality. The subsequent section reviews previous mobility studies in Latin American countries. The paper then summarizes the contribution of our own recent work, and [End Page 102] the final section discusses what lies ahead in mobility research for Latin American economies. As indicated by the title, this paper deals only with the study of intragenerational mobility. Intergenerational mobility is an important area of research, but we do not address it for the sake of brevity. Readers interested in this literature applied to Latin America should refer to the authoritative paper by Behrman, Gaviria, and Székely.1 Defining Mobility and How It Differs from Inequality As used in this paper, an income distribution is the entire vector of...